Pack a survival kit

ByA.C.March 7, 2000

Anytime anyone leaves the comfort and safety of McMurdo Station in Antarctica, he or she must be prepared for anything. In minutes, hurricane-force winds can begin to blow, sending sheets of snow and ice into the air and making it impossible to move, let alone know which way is home.

Before you go out in the field, you must spend three days in survival school. They call it "Happy Camper School."

For three days, happy campers eat, sleep, and live in a tent camp on the ice plateau near McMurdo. They learn survival skills and how to use what's in a large orange duffel - the survival bag. Inside is about 40 pounds' worth of everything you need to survive alone for at least three days. (For drinking water, of course, you can melt snow.)